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Sunday, July 10, 2016

4th Annual Lakewood @BlueClaws Outing

2016 Chachi BlueClawsSigning Autographs #1

2016 Chachi SpecialEdition #8

Chachi BlueClaws

Signing Autographs #2

For the fourth summer in a row, we travelled to Lakewood to see the Phillies low Class-A team, the BlueClaws. As an added bonus, thanks to the rain out on Friday night, we were there for a double header! As an super added bonus (not really), it was #Caturday at the ballpark and the BlueClaws players and coaches had the unfortunate task of wearing jerseys adorned with hundreds of pictures of cats. There were cat puns throughout both games, cat-inspired between innings shenanigans and actual cats on the field pre-game.

In game action, the BlueClaws won the first game, 4-0, helped by a Carlos Duran home run and a fine pitching performance from Edgar Garcia who pitched five shutout innings. The second game ended up going 12 innings and the BlueClaws won, 2-1, on a walk-off wild pitch. The team's #1 draft pick from last year, Cornelius Randolph, went 0 for 2 in the first game as he's trying to battle back from an early season injury. We also got to see visiting player Ke'Bryan Hayes, who played third base for the West Virginia Power (a Pirates affiliate) in the first game.

Chachi BlueClaws

Signing Autographs #3

2016 Bowman Family Tree #FT-H

Chachi BlueClaws

Signing Autographs #4

Chachi BlueClaws

Signing Autographs #5

The 2016 BlueClaws team sets weren't available for sale yet, but our boys purchased team baseballs and were able to get five signatures on each of their baseballs. The gracious signers were Jose Taveras, Edgar Garcia (right before he took the mound in game one), Sutter McLoughlin, Zach Morris and South Atlantic League All-Star Josh Tobias. Sitting behind first base, my wife Jenna was quick to recover an overthrown baseball that bounced into the stands and the ball immediately became part of our youngest son Ben's collection. (Doug was kind enough to let Ben have the ball.)

We had another #Clawsome time at the game, and we'll be back next year for our milestone fifth annual visit.

One Sentence Summary:Jared Eickhoff's train went off the tracks in this game, and the Phillies couldn't get a hit with runners in scoring position as the Rockies won easily, 8-3.

What It Means/What Happened: Eickhoff had pitched extremely well of late and it's a shame he has to go into the All-Star break after such a shoddy outing. He allowed eight runs on eight hits in just 5 1/3 innings. Tommy Joseph had a four-hit night, including his 11th home run.

Be sure to check out the 2016 Season Summary page with game results and links to game summary posts.